Bride and Prejudice

Plot Summary

In a small town in India four daughters live with their parents. One of the daughters is getting married and her parents' greatest wish is to see all their daughters married to wealthy Indian men. There is great celebration with friends and relatives coming to the wedding. Two of the guests are possible husband material for the single daughters. One is a very successful Indian man who now lives in America and another is an American hotelier. There is an instant attraction between the two men and two of the daughters. However it seems that the American man may have some pre-judgements about Indian women.

Review

The director of Bend It Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha, gives Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice a major Bollywood makeover! The colour, music and dancing seem typical of many Bollywood films. More than once the entire cast just burst into song! The dancing and singing scenes are nice to watch and very colourful, particularly around the wedding celebrations at the beginning of the film. However the scene were the three sisters just burst into song in the middle of a crowded street was just plain silly!

The story is mainly centred around Lalita (Aishwarya Rai), the second eldest daughter and her romance with the American man, Darcy (Martin Henderson). The girls live in a traditional society where their parents consider marrying 'well' a top priority. All the daughters are beautiful and there is a lot of eye gazing between them and their men but for a romance there was no kissing whatsoever (apparently there is never kissing in Bollywood films!).

I was expecting a light-hearted comedy but the laughs were very few and far between. Another criticism was that the scenes didn't seem to gel together and the film comes across somewhat disjointed.

Lasting Thought: Don't let preconceived ideas about other cultures cloud your judgement.

Bottom Line:  Disappointing. Bit of a turkey! If you enjoy this movie you might also enjoy Bend It Like Beckham and The Guru.

Reviewed by Sharon Swift, Premier Movie Reviews 2004.

RELATED MOVIE REVIEWS:  GURINDER CHADHA: Bend It Like Beckham.   MARTIN HENDERSON: Torque.

Genre: Romance/Musical/Comedy

Certificate: PG

Director: Gurinder Chadha

~ Main Cast ~

Aishwarya Rai

Martin Henderson

Naveen Andrews

Indira Varma

Peeya Rai Chodhary

Namrata Shirodkar

RATING

ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO